Verse 2
"Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for Jehovah's house to be built."
The awkward rendition here is due to uncertainties in the text, which despite any flaws is nevertheless clear enough The people did not wish to rebuild the Temple, because they said, "It is not time!" What fund raiser has not heard that? "It is not a good time ..." "This is hardly the right time for it ..." etc. Other versions have rendered the clause: "The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord."[5] "This people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord" (RSV). "These people say that this is not the right time to rebuild the Temple" (Today's English Version).
"This people ..." This must be one of the most important things in the verse. Note that God does not refer to Judah as "my people," but as "this people." In no sense, were they to be received back with all the privileges and blessings of former years. Their autonomy would never be fully restored, and the nation would suffer innumerable hardships before the coming of the Messiah.
We are not informed as to the manner of the people's conclusion that the time had not come. Instead of counting the captivity from 606 B.C., when the first captives were removed, they might have been counting from the destruction of the Temple (586 B.C.), in which latter case the full seventy prophetic years had not fully elapsed. But whatever the reason for their excuse, God did not allow it. One receives the impression that the principal thing they meant was, "It is not convenient for us, at this time, to rebuild it!"
"At root, however, the community's objection to rebuilding was not due to selfishness. They were preoccupied with personal matters to the the neglect of larger issues of importance to the whole community. In short, they had placed themselves before God."[6]
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